Category Archives: Came from

Piecing together a family’s story of immigration to the United States can be a challenge for many people. Richard Sherman Gordon’s family tree has roots that reach back hundreds of years in America, but most of their stories have been lost over the generations. What remains are tidbits of family lore, and for Rich’s family, there is also a lovingly ... Read More »

Amitesh came to the US in 1996 from New Dehli, India, to get a business degree at Case Western in Cleveland, Ohio. School led him directly into a finance job and other jobs followed until he found himself living in Palo Alto. Perhaps because of the cold weather in Cleveland, the sidewalks were relatively empty compared to the constant bustle ... Read More »

After coming here [to America] it was clear as day, I could taste it in my mouth” -Rashmita At the young age of eight, Rashmita, moved from India all the way to Indianapolis, Indiana with her brother, mother and father. Before their big move, her mother was a stay-at-home mom, while her dad was a businessman. With the hope of ... Read More »

Koichi Koba was born December 13, 1944 in Manchuria, China. Koichi’s father worked as a geologist for Imperial Japan and was conducting a study about the minerals in the area. In September of 1945 Japan surrendered to the Allied Forces ending the war in the Pacific theater. As Japanese Nationals in a hostile country Koichi and his family had to ... Read More »

Check out the inspirational story of Amber Stime, one of the featured storytellers in our salon called “Foreign Correspondents: Immigrant Odysseys” in November, 2014. A bomb changed her life path from Ethiopia to Minnesota. Read More »

Ken Vanbree’s great grandfather, Arie Vanbree was born in 1845. At the age of 11, Arie moved with his four siblings and father from the Netherlands to New York by sailing ship. It is believed that Arie’s mother died before the family decided to immigrate. They sailed on the “Arnold Boninger” a Prussian ship which left from Rotterdam and arrived in ... Read More »

He hopped from one heat vent to another, over the ones that lay outside the school buildings. It was below zero degrees Celsius, and he had only worn a down jacket and jeans. He was freezing and needed to stay warm. Sam Chou was starting his second semester at the University of Wisconsin in the year of 1990. He ... Read More »

Roberto was one of our featured storytellers at the salon, “Foreign Correspondents: Immigrant Odysseys” on November 9th, 2014. He shares the riveting details of his passage to the US from Mexico as a 15 year old. You can also see his story in Spanish here. Read More »

Liz Gulevich was one of our featured storytellers at our salon November 9, 2014 called “Foreign Correspondents: Immigrant Odysseys.” She tells a captivating story about the empowerment of her immigrant mother during her mother’s sunset years in Palo Alto, California. There’s a surprise near the end that involves an audience member. Read More »

After someone hit a home run, my grandfather turned to my father and said in Yiddish, “So what has he accomplished? He started out at home plate and he ran all the way around to get right back to where he started.” At 6:20 a.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 21, my clock radio awakened me in my home in the Bronx ... Read More »